Concrete Angel
by Nayeli Gold
Summary: Yes, that's right, I'm re-writing the story! Please tell me what you think! I'm just praying it's wonderful and that you all seem to like it as much as the first. Some additions have been made, some scenes will be cut out, some changes will appear. :)


Hey everyone!  Yes, I'm back again, finally.  And yes, that's right, I'm re-doing Concrete Angel.  I'm shifting a few of my ideas, re-writing certain parts, deleting others and generally hoping this will help destroy my current state of writer's Block.  Fun fun.  Laughs Anyway, I am hoping to keep this one realistic, because…well, that's what I do.  Enjoy!  And please, please review!

Chapter One: Greetings

_Seven months…such a long time when you think about a past death.  Isn't it funny how different seven months can seem when you begin to think about a future one though?  Time can be so confusing, so bothersome, so…harmful sometimes.  But what would we do without it?  Is it even possible for humanity to survive without time?_

_Sometimes I look up at the sky at night and watch the stars.  Most people…they look for constellations, but the only one I can ever find is Anima, and that's only because of his belt.  I mean, why on Pukne would I want to search the sky for pictures that I can never find?  It's ridicules, really.   But look, I'm getting off topic again.  What I meant to write instead of all that blither blather about my inability to find constellations was more about time and the stars.  _

_It takes an incredibly long time until we can see the light of stars, right? Well…how long do stars live?  Millions of years, right?  I think that's about right.  If this silly planet has been around for nearly four and a half billion years and we've been seeing stars and constellations for a really long time…could it not be possible that the stars that everyone looks at and admires aren't really there?  That we're still seeing the light that just hasn't gotten to us yet, and not an actual star?  That behind that star, there's really…nothing?  Maybe so much time has gone by that all we see now is the remainder of what used to be, but still pretend there's this beautiful star behind the light._

_I don't know…enough of my wandering mind, yeah?  I'll get to the point: It's been seven months since Mr. Haas, or Larry to the adults, died.  Since then, his shop has been left to the great art of disintegration.  I don't know why nobody's come for it yet, because I know he left it to someone in his will.  But wait…I suppose I have to rephrase that last sentence.  I don't know why whoever got his shop hasn't come before now.  Yes, that's right, after seven long months (the entire fall and winter!), someone's finally coming to claim Mr. Haas shop._

_Mercy, I hope they don't tear it down.  It was always one of my favorite places to hang out…and even though Mr. Haas was kind of…well…different, let's just say, he always made time to be kind to me.  He always listened to me rant and rave when my parents wouldn't let me go on the ferry with one of my friends into the city.  He seemed to have a never-ending supply of stories from his childhood that could make me laugh, no matter what was on my mind, and on days when I just didn't want to be bothered, Mr. Haas would let me sit in his shop as long as I liked, even if he was closing. _

_It feels so weird to say that a sixty-two year old man was my friend.  I mean…how many fifteen-year-olds really do that?  Make friends with a man old enough to be their grandfather, I mean.  Sure, maybe a few teenagers  like an old person…but to really have a friend like that who's not related to them?  I dunno…maybe I'm just odd._

_I know I shouldn't think this…but I can't help it and mercy, if I have to say it to someone, I might as well write it in my journal.  I HATE this new person.  I hate them already, and I don't even know them.  I hate them because they are the replacement for Mr. Haas, and nobody can replace him.  I hate them because they got the shop instead of me, and I know I could have run it, and probably better than whoever it is coming to take it now.  Mercy, I don't know…I suppose I'm just bitter.  Just jealous.  Just…missing my friend.  Maybe this new person won't be so bad.  _

_Well, mom's yelling at me to go to now (to meet this new guy), so I'm gonna scurry, but as usual, I'll be back to write again tomorrow._

_Emily_

"Remind me again why I have to be here…" I mumbled grumpily to my mother.  She sent me a warning look before answering.

"Because I'm on the council and you are my daughter."  She turned her annoyingly clear blue eyes away from me and began talking with Mrs. Yurt who was sitting next to her about the weather.  "Mercy, I cannot even begin to remember the last time we had this much rain Janice!  It never ceases to amaze me!"

"I know what you mean Stacy.  My husband's crops are practically swimming!  We can't take much more of this."  Their blather went on and on, but it's not like they were the only ones who were chatting about useless things.  Everyone in this steaming, squishy room were going on about the weather, or their latest purchase at the store from the city, or…well, just about anything to make it seem like they weren't really interested in the new person.

But of course they were.  Whoever it was that was coming hailed from the capital.  Not only would they be city born and bred, but they would probably have no idea how to run a home-store in such a small town and end up selling the land off.  But then again, they had to have some hardiness to them…after all, Iqbal had been under siege for eight months now, which explained why they were so late in claiming Mr. Haas' shop. 

I hadn't known that until I mother dragged me here, and in a way, I felt bad for whoever was coming.  I had heard the stories that surrounded the city.  Shadow men sneaking in and burning homes, raping the women, murdering the children.  All men above 13 were soldiers there now; all of them trying to fight off the enemy from the Black Sea Islands.  Until recently, they had succeeded in fighting the invaders off…but that all changed when Lord Halir of the Black Sea Islands died.  

His replacement was a necromancer who had managed to turn the souls of the dead into his slaves once again.  Nobody knew his name, his origin, even what he looked like.  Our priests of Mercy had begun to call him Balorog though, for in a dream they heard his name.  Whether Balorog was truly his name, nobody knew, but it was enough for us.  At least it was a name.  A nameless phantom shadow was far more frightening than a name.  With a name…it was almost as if we could picture a person, and with a person behind the name, we could imagine him falling into the timeless sea of death, much like every other person did. 

Even our town, usually so far away from major happenings, was feeling the effect.  The boys were talking about going away to fight, and Mayor Ketz was unusually quiet.  Sometimes I wondered if he was thinking about-

"Emily," My mother's voice immediately stopped my thoughts.  I turned to face her again with an annoyed look as she continued' "be a dear and get some more lemonade.  It's dreadfully hot in here."

I nodded and walked out of the room muttering, "That's because it's chock full of hot air."

"What did you say Emily!"  Shouted my mother, but I pretended not to hear her.  Harris and Wyatt, the cooking boys as we all called them, had made two huge bottles of the stuff, but had only carried one over, just incase that happened to be enough. 

Outside, the air was so much cooler than inside the greeting room and I was tempted to stay out here for a while and just make all my gossiping neighbors go without liquid for a few more minutes, but my mother would undoubtedly punish me for misbehaving and I was definitely not in the mood for a grounding, or even a lecture on being proper.  "Proper ladies _always_ do as they are told.  Proper ladies _always_ work quickly and efficiently.  They do not climb trees, they do not race the boys, they do not talk back, they-"

"Sound like no fun at all."  Finished a new voice.  I laughed slightly, and turned around.  "Hi, I'm Skyler." She said, and held out her hand to me.

"Emily." I greeted back, taking her hand.  "I take it you're the new person?"  The question came out harsher than I'd originally planned for it to be, but the deed was done and Skyler didn't seem to take much offence to it.  Instead, she just laughed.

"Yes.  Where is everyone?  I haven't seen a sign of human life since you came.  I was just about to turn around and become a priestess to Mercy what with this town looking so deserted." 

"Oh, everyone's just in the greeting room or at the farms working.  You have no idea how many of us have been waiting for you.  I was just on the way to get the second bottle of lemonade because everyone's been talking so much, trying to pretend they're not interested in you coming."

We laughed together for a while.  "Well then, I suppose I better get right into being a normal townsperson.  Want some help with the lemonade?  For so many people, the thing's bound to be pretty big."

"Okay, sure."  Together, we walked into the Boy's Bakery.  Maybe this new person wasn't so bad…certainly she couldn't replace Mr. Haas but…as we made small talk back to the greeting room, I couldn't help but wonder if Mr. Haas didn't need a replacement.  Maybe somebody different was just what we needed to, well… spark a little fun in this town again.  I wasn't sure if she was actually helping with the lemonade, but for what she lacked in strength, she certainly seemed to make up for in sarcasm and prank ideas.

"Ready for the greeting room?  If you make it through alive and can actually manage to remember everything you're told, you will be my hero." 

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad."  She replied, laughing.

"Heh, oh you'll see!" And with that, we opened the doors, walking over to the table to set the lemonade down.  At first nobody seemed to notice the fact that an extra person was now in the room.  Perhaps they actually did care about the weather or the hole in Pete's sock.  Skyler glanced at me, wondering what exactly she was supposed to do now, and I just smiled.  "Everybody, meet Skyler.  She's from Iqbal."

I swear, I'd never seen so many people jump to their feet to greet someone in my life.

Right then!  So yay, the first chapter is up!  Huzzah!  Read and review please, 'cuz I'll love you forever and ever and ever and ever!


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